My rapturous essay, "Believing in Takakura Ken" is featured on the blu-ray 君よ憤怒の河を渉れ [Manhunt] (佐藤純彌, [Satō Jun'ya] 1976). Toy Robot just announced October 19th and 20th release dates for UK and US, respectively.

am happy to announce that my “On Choosing ‘Or’: A Situated Response to Heated Rivalry” is now out in Wenshan Review 19.2 June 2026. Link to downloadable text in comments www.wreview.org/index.php/cu...

Here are the blu-rays so far that I have contributed various items: booklet essays, video essays, video introductions, full-length commentary, dialogic commentary. I owe most of this side career to Jasper Sharp, and remain forever grateful.

Coming in August, 2026. Shogun's Ninja [忍者武芸帖 百地三太夫] (Suzuki Norifumi 1980). I did a meta-cinematic approach to the film in my essay commissioned for it, "The Double Agents of Shogun's Ninja." referring to the multi-leveled significance of Sonny Chiba and Sanada Hiroyuki in the film

Coming soon from Toy Robot, Manhunt [君よ憤怒の河を渉れ] (Sato Jun’ya 1976). Includes my essay “Believing in Ken Takakura”. I deal with this film but then I expand the perspective to the phenomenon of Takakura Ken. This was the first foreign film allowed in China after the Cultural Revolution

Friend of the Gutter @dzigaflitcraft.bsky.social has a new piece on two Vietnamese films about gay men! culturalgutter.com/2026/04/28/a...

“Another Scene: Placing Fantasy in Two Vietnamese Gay Films, Part I”

At Asian Movie Pulse, friend of the Gutter Earl Jackson writes about gay male fantasy in Vietnamese film: “The English title for Hot boy nổi loạn (Vũ Ngọc Đãng, 2011), ‘Lost in Paradise,&#821…

culturalgutter.com

I wrote on the placing of fantasy in the film Song Lang asianmoviepulse.com/2026/04/anot...

Another Scene: Placing Fantasy in Two Vietnamese Gay Films Part I

by Earl Jackson The English title for "Hot boy nổi loạn" (Vũ Ngọc Đãng 2011), "Lost in Paradise", reflects the protagonist’s fantasy of Ho Chi Minh City Another Scene: Placing Fantasy in Two Vietnames...

asianmoviepulse.com

Honored that my essay on the Great Killing was comissioned for the Kudo Eiichi Samurai Revolution Trilogy

Here's part two of my Cultural Gutter essay on Kimi wa Koibito (You are my Lover). Link to part one is provided there too. culturalgutter.com/2025/12/04/d...

Disavowing the Story: On Kimi wa Koibito (You Are My Lover): Part Two

Guest Star and film scholar Earl Jackson continues his look at Kimi wa Koibito / You Are My Lover, a dizzyingly metafictional and genre-bending Nikkatsu film featuring an injured Japanese teen hear…

culturalgutter.com

Arrow is releasing Kudo Eiichi's Samurai Revolution Trilogy in March. These films ARE cinema. I'm honored to have my essay on The Great Killing included. Link to full details in comments.

New at the Gutter, Guest Star @dzigaflitcraft.bsky.social writes about a teen heart throb's gruesome accident and how it was handled in his return to the screen, You Are My Lover (1967)! culturalgutter.com/2025/11/06/a...

Appearing as Oneself: On Kimi wa Koibito / You are My Lover (1967): Part I

This week Guest Star and film scholar Earl Jackson writes about an injured Japanese teen hearthrob’s return to the screen in a movie that references his injury and the incident that caused it…

culturalgutter.com

Happy to report that Radiance Films is releasing the Bluray of 明治侠客伝 三代目襲名 [Blood of Revenge] (Tai Kato 1965). My thanks to Tom Mes for commisioning my essay, "Passion Plays in a Brave New World."

Arrived yesterday. I would like to thank all our dazzling contributors, everyone at Edinburgh University Press who saw us through the stages, Aaron Gerow for his generous endorsement, and most of all, David Desser for his guidance, generosity and commitment.

EUP gave me a guest blog spot for our book The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke. Films of Joy and Sorrow. euppublishingblog.com/2025/08/14/b...

Bringing Kinoshita Keisuke to Light

The omission of Keisuke distorts the international picture of Japanese film history and impoverishes the options for a fuller appreciation its legacy.

euppublishingblog.com

Apologies for the double posting. EUP just sent me this banner for the 30percent discount, with the very generous words of Professor Aaron Gerow, for which David and I are deeply grateful

The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke. Films of Joy and Sorrow, coedited by David Desser and myself. 30% off with NEW30 code. Link to the order page below. Please ask your libraries to consider ordering, the first book in English on this major director. edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-cin...

Kurahara Koreyoshi's younger brother Kurahara Koretsugu was a pioneer in the Nikkatsu Roman Porno form. Jasper Sharp and I did a joint commentary on one of his early works, Sex Rider Wet Highway, for 88 Films, to be released in July. Link to full details in comments.

Sounding smarter in Vietnamese

88 Films is releasing Gate of Flesh (Gosha Hideo 1988) in June. I filmed a video introduction to the film while I was in London. My thanks to Jasper Sharp, producer, Sarah Appleton, cinematography, and Hugo Wu for styling.

Happy to reveal the cover of David Desser's and my co-edited volume, The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke. Films of Joy and Sorrow. Link in comments to the University of Edinburgh Press website with the details on Table of Contents.

I thank Jasper Sharp for the invitation to contribute this essay and for his beautiful design of the booklet.

Happy to relay the announcement of the coming release of The Rapacious Jailbreaker (Nakajima Sadao 1974). My booklet essay, "Escape as Vocation" is my first for Radiance Films. My thanks to Tom Mes for including me. Also featuring Nathan Stuart's commentary! Link to detailed ad in the comments.

V-CINEMA ESSENTIALS: BULLETS AND BETRAYAL (LIMITED EDITION) BLU-RAY FEATURES: Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Earl Jackson, Daisuke Miyao, and Hayley Scanlon.

Coming on March 3, 2025: Arrow Video- Play it Cool [Denki Kurage] (Masumura Yasuzo 1970). Includes my essay, "Masumura Yasuzo's femmes vitales" - my most intense booklet essay to date. And a dialogic commentary by Jasper Sharp and Anne McKnight! www.arrowfilms.com/blu-ray/play...

Play it Cool Limited Edition Blu-ray

Buy Play it Cool Limited Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Films.

arrowfilms.com

Three years ago today, the online Symposium on Taiwanese crime films, as part of the symposium-series based on Thirty-Two New Takes on Taiwan Cinema, Eds. Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh, Darrell William Davis, and Wenchi Lin.

The 88 Films blu-ray of Watcher in the Attic (Tanaka Noboru 1976) has sent out its pre-orders ahead of the Dec 16 release, including my essay, "Sex in the Eye of the Beholder". 88-films.myshopify.com/products/wat...

Watcher In The Attic

RELEASE DATE: 16/12/24 (subject to change) A perverted loner roams the rafters of a boarding house in 1920s Tokyo in Watcher in the Attic, directed by one of the Nikkatsu‘s top Roman Porno filmmaking ...

88-films.myshopify.com

I am delighted to announce that The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke. Films of Joy and Sorrow, coedited by David Desser and myself,It will be out in August 2025. Link to Edinburgh UP website with info and table of contents. edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-cin...

The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke

The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke

edinburghuniversitypress.com

In February Arrow releases A Certain Killer and A Killer's Key. I'm grateful to Jasper Sharp for asking me to write a booklet essay. My essay: "Detachment and Charisma: the Seductive Refusal of Ichikawa Raizo.